Died at Norwich, Leaving a Will and Property
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GOVERNOR GARRARD, Of l(ENTUCI( Y, HIS DESCENDANTS -AND- RELATIVES, BY ANNA RUSSELL DEs· COGNETS. PCBLISHED BY J A 1\I E S 1\1 • B Y R N E S , LEXINGTON, KY. 1898. TO LOUIS DES COGNETS, llY ONLY CHILD, THIS WORK IS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED. ELIZABETH MOUNTJOY GARRARD. \\"ILLIA::\I GARR.~RD, SEATTLE, WASH. :MRS LAVI);!.\ G. GRYl\lES LI);DSAY. PREFACE. The desire to learn more of my Garrard ancestors gave me the starting point in beginning this work. I could not, at the beginning, anticipate the difficulties and obstacles quite insurmountable which awaited me in my efforts to bring to light the history and family traditions which had been so long neglected and almost forgotten. Disappoint ments came at every turn. The older generation have all passed away, and those now living can recall but little derived from their parents. When investigation in Virginia was begun, and I learned that the Stafford county records, at the very period in which my search would be directed, were all destroyed during the Civil war, my discouragement was so great that I almost gave up my difficult task. I concluded, however, that it would be better to collect all that could be obtained, and preserve it, than to let all be obliterated by the hand of time. I have n1ade searching investigations in Virginia where the first ...i\.tnerican ancestor settled, and also in England, hoping to find something of the French Huguenot ances tor. The result has been very disappointing and unsatis factory, and I am sure my disappointment will be sqared by every descendant who feels an interest in this under taking. Hundreds of letters have been written in quest of information, many records examined, many Huguenot histor;es searched, ,vithout finding anything direct or reli able. The ·meagre family traditions are all that can be reached, and guided by them I have collected / ragments relating to the early family history. These fragtnents are all that can be given; but, if preserved, they may at some PREFACE. future day serve as ground-work for farther research by any who may wish to undertake it. I have spared neither trouble nor expense in prosecut ing my investigations, and every source of information has been exhausted. It has been very slow and tedious work, and has occu pied nearly all my time for more than a year; and I much regret that my satisfaction regarding it is not complete, but hope it will be received as the result of my best eff\Jrts to obtain what all so much desire and would value. I wish here to express my acknowledgments to all who have given me assistance in regard to families and lists of descendants. To Mr. Paul Oeker, of Paris, France, who so intelli gently made a search among the records of London, 1 mu~t remain under great obligations. Also, to Dr. John W. Garrard, of Birmingham, Ala., who has kindly furnished data of the Garrards of the Southern states. Mr. C. L. Bryan, clerk of Stafford county, has been very accommodating, and I am exceedingly obliged to l\lr. James Ashby, deputy clerk of Stafford, for his interest and assistance. He visited and exatnined all the old church yards in Stafford, including a very old burying ground near Falmouth, hoping to obtain some names or inscriptions for this work. The pictures given of Governor and l\i rs Garrard were taken frotn portraits painted by Horace Harding, who pre ceded his brother Chester Harding, as an artist, a number of years. These were copies from the originals painted by St. Leger de Happert, of Philadelphia, in 1800. These originals I have. They are not so well executed as the copies by Harding; the canvas is thin, and shows its age of nearly a hundred years. The picture of John Mountjoy Garrard was taken fro1n a miniature painted on ivory, about 1800, and supposed to be by de Happert. That of Judge Garrard is also fro1n a miniature on ivory, painted, it is thought, in New Orleans, after he became advanced in years. I may venture to hope that this frag1nentary collection PREFACE. will prove acceptable to all descendants, and that they may derive some satisfaction, if not pleasure, from these pages compiled by one who here places on record her admiration and affection for her worthy and venerated ancestors, whose names are herein recorded, and whose virtues should be held in lasting remembrance by all their descendants. ANNA RUSSELL DES COGNETS. LEXINGTON, KY., March 16, 1898. GOVERNOR JAMES GARRARD. This work has, unfortunately, been too long delayed. Information relating to the Garrard family history is now almost impossible to obtain. All of the older generatio.ns, who knew all facts and traditions. relating to it, have passed away, and the oldest of their descendants now Hying have retained but little derived from their parents . .Extended investigations have been made,' but with most unsatisfactory results. The records of Stafford county, Virginia, having been destroyed during the Civil war, all information which thev may have given, is hopelessly lost. Those extending from 170() to 1748 are all gone, and noth ing can be found which would indicate the date of the ·set tlement of the Garrards in Virginia. In• the absence of records, tradition must be our only guide in tracing them. All traditions agree that the first ancestor was a French Huguenot, who left France soon after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; most probably about 1685. Tradition in C1fr branch of the family says: '\The Huguenot ancestor left France with two little sons, and went to England.'" Their names, and where they lived in England, cannot be found. Mr. Paul Oeker, of Paris, France, whose wife is a Gar rard descendant, has 1nade investigations in. London and Paris, hoping to find some data that might assist in tracing the early ancestors who left their homes in France for a safer residence in England;~but he has obtained nothing from which the origin of the fa1nily can be determined in a definite way. Mr. Oeker concludes from all data found in London, that all the Garrard fa1nilies in England are descended from one and the same French stock, but from long residence GOVERNOR JAl\'.I:ES GARRARD. there, since the time of Henry V, have become English in .all respects. The later Huguenot branch did not immigrate until after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and it is doubtless this branch which was transplanted to ,lirginia. While family tradition says- the original French name was GERARD, Mr. Oeker thinks it must have been GARARD. He has found in· London, among 111any hundreds of names of French Hugnenots who went to England between 1670 .and 1700, and who were naturalized by Royal Patent Rolls, issued by the various Kings, Charles II, James II, Queen Mary and William III, that PETER G.\.R:\.RD is the only one of the family found. His naturalization as a British sub- ject took place May 8th, 1687, in the ninth year of the reign of William III. The naturalization of refugees occurred many or several years after their arrival in London. But, where in France these refugees_ came from, not a trace can now be found. As the result of his searching investigations, Mr. Oeker .arrives at the conclusion that ·PETER GARARD was the Huguenot ancf!stor of the American Garrards. The period, as well as other points, agree with the A.merican tradition. He was a man of prominence and influence, as he acquired British citizenship. As the name GERARD can nowhere be found in the London records, we must conclude that it was GARAR.D; .and as all the families who had preceded him to England had changed the spelling to G.~RRARD, he doubtless adopted the precedent. In ...-\.gnew's va·luable work PETER GARARD's name .is spelled GARRARD, while in the original Patent it is spelled GARARD. As his is the only name "GARARD" found in the records of French Huguenots who escaped to England be tween 1685-1695, the theory may be accepted that PETER GARARD, naturalized in England in 16S5, was the Huguenot ancestor of the American Garrards. The traditions of the American families pJint to the probability of such theory being correct. Mr Oeker inclines to the belief that PETER GARRARD came from the Walloon country, near or about Lille, northeastern France, and that he escaped through Belgium or Holland There is some reason to GOVERNOR JAl\IES GARRARD. 3 believe the Garrards have some Spanish blood, derived, perhaps, from an ancestress. Bearing upo~ this l\1r. Oeker finds that at the end of the sixteen th century the author of the book '' Arte of Warre,'' Captain Garrard, was in Spanish service and fought in the Netherlands before he retired to England, where already a cousin_ of his, Sir W. Garrard, lived. That tends to ·point both to Spanish connections and the Walloon country as being th~ locality of their origin. It forms to-day a part of Belgium and a part of France on the Belgian frontier, and was settled by French Huguenots. There was an ''Olimpia Garrard," who died at Norwich, leaving a will and property. This was certainly a Spanish name. The "Garrard eyes," bla~k and Spanish in their general appear·ance, have been transmitted to many descendants of every generation, even to the present day. Also, the fact that the first Garrards in Virginia had some Spanish household goods, which they brought with them from England and which they greatly valued, suggests Spanish connections.